Decorative, flexible, sheet-type covering materials such as wall or floor coverings are conventionally manufactured with non-woven organic or glass fiber mats or woven cloth as a substrate. Where glass fiber mats are used, it is desirable to insure that both faces of the glass mat are covered with a protective coating to protect those handling the covering material from the skin irritation associated with handling glass fiber material. Availability of a suitable surface for printing is also desirable. Satisfactory substrates using glass mats are especially desirable as a replacement for the more commonly used asbestos felt substrates in view of the currently recognized hazards to health involved in the use of asbestos.
While glass mats coated with protective material are known, the use of such mats coated on both sides or faces with protective material has in the past involved the use of release paper or lamination of coatings. In other applications, glass mats has been coated on one side with cured polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastisol or organosol as illustrated for instance in U.S. Pat. No. 3,490,985 to Marzocchi et al.